Who is the most famous professional athlete from Northampton? To me the answer is clear — Jarrod Neumann. I deeply appreciated past coverage following his success on the lacrosse field from Northampton High School to Providence College to the professional lacrosse league in “Florida Launch select Northampton native Jarrod Neumann with 25th overall pick in Major League Lacrosse Draft” [Gazette, May 29, 2017]. And yet, the last coverage of him was seven years ago. What has he done in that time? You won’t find out in the Gazette. Those of us that have followed his meteoric rise, have seen the beginning of a storied career. Not only did Neumann earn the 2019 Defensive Player of the Year award, not only was he named a four-time all-star (2019, 2021, 2022, 2023), but he also holds the world record for the fastest lacrosse shot of all time. He broke his own record. What happened to local sports pride? Instead of covering this story we see countless articles that are divisive. How many stories are published on changing Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ day? If we wanted to bring our community together we would honor Neumann’s successes and follow his story. What better way to honor the ndigenous peoples who invented the game of lacrosse than to do so. Why not kill two birds with one stone and re-name Columbus Avenue in Northampton (where I grew up) to Neumann Way?

Jacob Levitt

Northampton